Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on PG&E (NYSE:PCG)

PG&E Co. (NYSE:PCG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 45,852 call options on the company. This is an increase of 505% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,579 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on PCG. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of PG&E from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of PG&E from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of PG&E from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of PG&E in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.89.

Institutional Trading of PG&E

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 10.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 17,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 1,665 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 470.6% during the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 2,014 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 41.0% during the third quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 5,339 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 11.9% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 78,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 8,369 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of PG&E by 24.0% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 248,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,007,000 after acquiring an additional 48,140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.56% of the company’s stock.

PG&E Stock Up 0.4 %

PCG stock opened at $17.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.78. PG&E has a 1-year low of $14.71 and a 1-year high of $18.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $16.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.88. The firm has a market cap of $36.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 1.32.

PG&E (NYSE:PCG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. PG&E had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 10.84%. The firm had revenue of $7.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that PG&E will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

PG&E Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. PG&E’s payout ratio is 3.81%.

PG&E Company Profile

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California, the United States. It generates electricity using nuclear, hydroelectric, fossil fuel-fired, fuel cell, and photovoltaic sources.